It is snowing and blowing outside the window today, another winter storm is in progress. This time around the temperature is just below freezing, which I prefer to more frigid temperatures. Lots of snow though, and lots of wind blowing it around.
In the 2020 lock-down during the first wave of the pandemic, a year ago now, Attila was home when his workplace shut down temporarily. Then in the fall of 2020 Attila had a medical issue, and was again home while recovering. The biggest downside of all that time away from work, which left us financially struggling, was that I got to see what it was like having him around the house all the time. It was great! Now I am spoiled, and I don’t care for the time he has to be away from home to work. Previously I didn’t know that I was missing something I would like, it was merely a suspicion that is might be nice, rather than an experience. But now I know, and now I have to work on my attitude!
We recently scored some frozen turkeys on sale. The downside of shopping online is that you do not get all the details about a product. It was unfortunate that these turkeys had been “seasoned” with salt! This means I will have to limit my serving sizes, and my daily intake of sodium, to accommodate turkey dinners. Curses! Still, we now know we can have a turkey next Thanksgiving, and again for Christmas. It was stressful doing without for Thanksgiving 2020, and paying a fortune for Christmas 2020. The one frozen turkey we could find last Christmas cost more than the three we purchased this week.
A week ago Sunday Attila rustled up a turkey dinner with a turkey we bought in January. It was delicious. We ate Turkey Dinners every night until Friday, then froze enough diced turkey to make six casseroles, and the bones etc. are now being made into broth for a soup that will provide at least 10 servings.
One of the things about cooking from scratch is that unless you cook, there isn’t anything to eat. For example, there is no such thing as having a quick sandwich, without milling flour, baking bread, and preparing fillings for the sandwiches. A lot of work goes into having “quick” foods about the house.
Attila’s strategy is to cook large batches of soup to store in the refrigerator for a quick meal when he is feeling peckish. I am not a fan of soup, so my strategies are a bit different. I favour a stir-fry when the garden is giving me fresh greens every day, from June to October. The winters are a bit more challenging. Last week I made Baked Beans. They are lovely with a toasted slice of whole wheat bread. I’ve been thinking of making a casserole for myself when the Baked Beans are all gone, something heavy on the vegetables I think.
A few weeks ago I processed Butternut Squash, all but one of those from our garden that we had stored in the basement. They were cooked in the Instant Pot, using two cups of liquid. By the time all of the Squash were processed, the liquid in the Instant Pot had increased to four cups. This was saved, and although I had my doubts, it has proved to add a lot of delicious flavour to our meals, and a lot of nutrients as well. It is almost gone now, used as the liquid for Instant Pot cooking as the liquid for rice and pasta casseroles. When the Squash broth is gone it will be interesting to add some of the pureed squash to these dishes, to see if that brightens them up in a similar fashion.
Worldly
Weather
Updated on Mon, Feb 22, 11:55 AM
-1°C
FEELS LIKE -8C
Snow
Wind 28 S km/h
Humidity 95 %
Visibility 1.2 km
Sunrise 6:57 AM
Wind gust 42 km/h
Pressure 100.6 kPa
Ceiling 400 m
Sunset 5:46 PM
Quote
“A child that has a quick temper, just blaze up and cool down, ain’t never likely to be sly or deceitful.”
L. M. Montgomery (1874 – 1942)